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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the piece of evidence that led police to find John?

2. In what city area did Ressler grow up, according to the details in the book?

3. In the first section, what was the nickname of the killer?

4. Since serial killers experience abuse as children, it is difficult for them to sustain meaningful and consensual ____________ in life.

5. A ________ killer might grow up in a house with a harsh father or mother, as well as having a mental illness or a substance abuse problem.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the profile that Ressler creates for the killer, when called into Vorpagel's case?

2. What was the result of the interviews that Ressler had with Mason?

3. What does Ressler find about the profile of serial killers and how they feel about their crimes?

4. What does Ressler decide to do when he learns about the new murder case and its possible connection to other unsolved cases?

5. What happened with the larger criminal that Ressler attempted to interview in order to solve a crime?

6. What are some of the characteristics of a disorganized killer, according to Ressler?

7. Why did Vorpagel react quickly to the crime that was presented to him in this first case?

8. Why did Ressler come up with the terms 'organized' and 'disorganized' when it came to describing killers?

9. Why do many disorganized killers tend to not drive to their crimes?

10. What did the young Ressler do in response to the murder cases he learned about as a child?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The question of whether serial killers are born or made is one that comes up for Ressler.

Part 1: Do you think serial killers are born or made? Why?

Part 2: What would it mean if it were discovered that serial killers are made?

Part 3: What would it mean if it were proven that all serial killers are born the way they are?

Essay Topic 2

During his time at BSU, Ressler studied killers who seemed to enjoy the act of killing others.

Part 1: Why do you think some serial killers appear to enjoy killing their victims?

Part 2: How do you think a person can begin to enjoy the act of killing others? Or, is it inherent in their personality?

Part 3: Do you think that you could ever change into a person who would enjoy killing others?

Essay Topic 3

For a time, it was difficult to communicate crime information between agencies, leading to slower case resolution.

Part 1: Why do you think inter-agency cooperation wasn't considered earlier?

Part 2: How do you think agencies communicate today?

Part 3: What might happen to a killer if there were no communication between agencies?

(see the answer keys)

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